窮鼠猫を噛む

Japanese

Kanji in this term
窮	鼠	猫	噛
きゅう Grade: S	そ Hyōgaiji	ねこ Grade: S	か Hyōgaiji

Alternative spelling
窮鼠猫を嚙む (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Calque of Literary Chinese 窮鼠嚙狸 (qióngshǔ nièlí, literally “a cornered rat will bite a cat”), from the Discourses on Salt and Iron (鹽鐵論·詔聖／盐铁论·诏圣). Note that the character 狸 (lí) is replaced by 猫 in Japanese.

Proverb

窮(きゅう)鼠(そ)猫(ねこ)を噛(か)む • (kyūso neko o kamu) 

1. a cornered rat will bite a cat, weak people will attack when cornered